Telling the stories of three backpackers in the outback of
Australia, "Wolf Creek" is a mixed blessing by first time director Greg
McLean.

The first half of the film introduces the three characters, sets up a love
interest, location and environment. This half is quiet weak. We never really
get to know the characters, we get "acquainted" with them. We never get to
know what goes on inside them, we get "an idea". Left with them, we follow
them thru the desolated outback, which even in real life is nothing but dust,
dirt and a road - i.e. boring.

The second half of the film is what "Wolf Creek" is all about and where it
delivers. Not so much horror, but more terror and sadism, "Wolf Creek" is
surprisingly effective in setting the scene, using transitions between
close-up of the characters bloody faces and the killer.

Where many horror films at the moment substitute story with sadism, "Wolf
Creek" can be said to do the same, but thanks to some rather inventive
story elements, the second part of the film is almost up to par with "Texas
Chainsaw Massacre". Very wisely McLean never explains the killers motifs. He
is just someone who kills. He is just someone who loves to see his victims
squirming in pain, begging for their lives. And because he is a pure sadist,
the sadism of the horror never becomes a substitution for story.

What I liked the most about "Wolf Creek" was, that the images stay with you.
Even though the first part almost can be skipped, the mise-en-scene and the
terror of the second part is so beautifully crafted, that it makes you want to
see it again. And that is a quality I have missed in horror films lately. If
the characters and the first part had been better crafted, "Wolf Creek" would
indeed have been an amazing film. But one must remember, that this is a first
effort, and McLean shows promise.

Shot on HD,
then blown up to 35mm, having been digitally altered to look more like
film than DV, the image has some minor issues. Even so, this is one very
strong transfer. It is hard for me to tell what is an artifact and what is
caused by grading, so as the image overall looks amazing, I'm willing to
overlook what might be compression artifacts.

The sound is in general very good, but at times dialogue is hard to
understand, as its in Aussie and being mumbled. But in scenes where you
need to be able to hear what they say, its clear and easily
understandable. Still, I would have liked subtitles added on this DVD.

The audio commentary is a mixed blessing. While there is some discussions
towards scenes, a lot of the times they talk about how much fun they had
doing this and that.

The same thing can be said about the interview with John Jarratt, who just
sits and talks for 20 minutes. While he does talk about production and
character, this is IMO a poor interview, as he is allowed to just talk,
and the interviewer hasn't bothered preparing questions nor structuring
the interview.

The only real good piece of additional material is the 50-minute Making
of, where we get a good sense of production, how the film was graded from
HD to film, and with lots of comments and interview segments.